The Only Web Apps You Need for File-Sharing

Cloud storage solutions like Dropbox and Google Drive are fantastic, but they don’t solve all the file-sharing needs you would have online. For starters, they require you to have an account to use them, and there’s no anonymity in sharing the file itself.

In the course of using the internet, you will often need different file-sharing solutions for different tasks. There is no one-size-fits-all service that gets everything done. So here are the best services for file-sharing, depending on what you need to do.

There are times when you need to share a file with someone, but want to make it available only for a short period of time. Whether you’re hosting a timed contest on social networks or tweeting about some major news event, what you share now may no longer be relevant after a while. And hey, there’s always the need to protect some important files.

Senduit brings out the spy in you and gives you a file-sharing platform with a timer. Once that deadline is reached, the file self-destructs and the link is no longer valid. It’s a super-simple interface where you select the file, and choose time slots of up to a week for it. The links are private, so it’s up to you as to who you share them with.

Unfortunately, the only way you can upload files is through your hard drive–it doesn’t support direct web links. The file size limit is kept to 100MB, so you will need to create multiple links if you need to share more than that.

Still, the free service works perfectly and I have tried it on several occassions.

Need to share a mammoth file with several users? Most file-sharing services like Rapidshare and others have limitations on the file size you can upload, but not so with Filedropper, which offers a massive 5GB upload to any user. You don’t even need to sign up! Just share your private link with anyone you want.

Filedropper does have pro accounts that offer extra features. In the free account, any file you upload will be deleted if it hasn’t been downloaded by anyone for 30 days. There’s no such limitation with the Pro accounts, though, which keep your files forever.

The other cool part about this service is that it does not force anyone looking to download the file to wait for a countdown timer or sign up for an account. It is file-sharing at its simplest: you upload it, they download it, nothing in between.

Services like Dropbox are fantastic when you need to share a folder with others, and they can add files to the same folder. But that requires you to know each other and send an invitation.

There are times when all you need is a place on the internet where anyone can dump files and anyone else can download them. That’s what OneTimeBox was built for, by Oliver Song at the MIT Hackathon this year.

It’s really simple. OneTimeBox lets you create, as the name suggests, a one-time box whose link you can share with anyone. You are free to upload as many files as you want (under 1GB) and anyone else can do the same, as long as they know the URL of your box. Each box stays online for one week and in that time, anyone can upload or download files from it. And yes, you can add files from your hard drive, web link, social networks like Facebook, online storage like Dropbox, or even photo-sharing services like Flickr.

This could be fantastic for hackers, gathering pictures from attendees after an event, or loads of other services. The possibilities are endless!

If you use Dropbox for most of your file storage needs, then you need to sign up for dbInbox right now. Essentially, it creates a new folder on your Dropbox that is your new “inbox” for attachments.

For someone to share a file to your Dropbox, they need to be a member too. Also, they need to know your Dropbox email address to do that, and there’s the added step of accepting the link.

dbInbox simplifies the whole thing by giving you a public folder for your Dropbox and letting anyone upload a file to it, whether they are a Dropbox user or not. It’s also a useful utility to upload a file to your own Dropbox from someone else’s computer.

So go to dbInbox and get yourself a unique URL to share a public folder to your Dropbox for free.